1.

Title of the research

«Public policies to prevent suicide among high school students in Aichi Prefecture».
2. Abstract
Suicide is one of the most critical issues worldwide. In Japan, more than 30,000 people
died by suicide between 1998 and 2011, and the Japanese government and prefectures
have been working on prevention programs to reduce the suicide rate. Also, the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology revealed that, in 2018, there were 332
young people who committed suicide (5 elementary school students, 100 junior high
school students and 227 high school students).
For these reasons, this research plan will determine what public policies can be
implemented in schools to prevent suicides of high school students in Aichi Prefecture, as
it is the second city with the highest number of suicides after Tokyo.
This research collects information through surveys, interviews and bibliographic material.
The representative sample that we consider to be the students of the schools of the
prefecture of Aichi. Another source that we will take is the one published on the website of
the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, which
are freely accessible.
With the information collected through research techniques, we will proceed to implement:
1) programs that train teachers and guide high school students in Aichi Prefecture on
suicide prevention, also 2) promote the importance of mental health among students and
strengthen it through participation in artistic, cultural, research and creative activities.
Finally, this research plan seeks to make an important contribution in order to inform,
prevent and provide alternatives to prevent suicide and strengthen mental health among
students in Japanese schools who are experiencing family, economic or health problems

Keywords : Suicide, public policies, Japan, suicide prevention, mental health.

3. Main objective and specific objectives

3.1. Main objective

● Determine the impact of public policies to prevent suicide among high school
students in Aichi Prefecture.

3.2. Specific objectives

● Identify which public mental health policies can be implemented to decrease the
number of suicides among high school students in Aichi Prefecture.
● Stimulate and encourage the development of soft skills to prevent suicide risk in
high school students of Aichi Prefecture

● Promote ongoing training of staff in Japanese schools and health centres to

prevent suicide among high school students in Aichi Prefecture.

● Create a mental health plan in schools to reduce the risk of suicide among high
school students in Aichi Prefecture.

4. Justification of the research

Suicide in Japan is a socio-cultural phenomenon. In daily, Japanese society lives with this,
especially children and adolescents.(Araya Leiva, 2021)
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and technology revealed that in 2018
there were 332 young people who committed suicide. Specifically, 5 elementary school
students, 100 junior high school students and 227 high school students.(Nippon.com,
2019)
The relevance of the research will lie in the fact that it is necessary to propose guidelines
for professional work in two substantial aspects:

● First, the Japanese government should promote mental health programs to prevent
suicide in schools aimed at primary, junior high school and mainly high school
students because of the highest number of suicide cases.
● Second, to what extent the Japanese government through its Health Institutions is
able to grant preventive measures.

5. Background

5.1. Global level

Regina Miranda and Elizabeth L. Jeglic in their book Handbook of youth suicide
prevention: integrating research into practice (2021) examine research on youth suicide,
analyses recent data on suicide among adolescents and address the issue as a serious
public health problem. In addition, the book explores youth suicide research, examining its
causes, new and innovative ways of determining suicide risk, and evidence-based
intervention and prevention strategies. (Miranda & L.Jeglic, 2021)

5.2. Country level (Japan)

In 2016, Tetsuya Matsubayashi, professor at Osaka University in Japan in his research
‘‘School and seasonality in youth suicide: evidence from Japan’’, explains about the
frequency of suicide in high school students (15-18 years), which tends to increase
dramatically around the dates school begins, between April and September. To do this,
national death records were examined in Japan’s Vital Statistics to investigate seasonal
patterns of suicide among young people. Thus, it was determined that the cyclical pattern
of juvenile suicide is closely related to the school calendar.(Matsubayashi et al., 2016)

6. Hypothesis

6.1. General hypothesis

● Is there a direct inverse relationship between the number of public policies and the
increase or decrease in suicides among high school students in Aichi Prefecture?

6.2. Specific hypotheses

● Is there a direct inverse relationship between the implementation of public mental

health policies and the number of suicides among high school students in Aichi
Prefecture?

● Is there a direct inverse relationship between stimulating the development of soft skills
and increasing or decreasing suicides among high school students in Aichi
Prefecture?

● Is there a direct inverse relationship between the ongoing training of staff in Japanese
schools to prevent suicide among high school students in Aichi Prefecture?

● Is there a direct inverse relationship between implementing a mental health plan in

schools and increasing or decreasing in the number of suicides among high school
students in Aichi Prefecture?

7. Methodology

7.1. Type of research

The type of research is descriptive research, which collects information from
surveys and interviews. Survey research allows us to collect volumes of data to
analyse frequencies, averages and patterns (McCombes, 2019). These surveys will
be conducted to students of high schools in the prefecture of Aichi.

7.2. Design of the research

 Research design is a cohort study because it is a powerful tool for identifying risk
factors for suicide.(Balingit, 2021) Likewise, the type of research will be a
longitudinal study because it will allow observing and collecting information without
influencing the variable, said variable are the high school students of Aichi
Prefecture.

7.3. Work plan

Para el año fiscal 2023 (abril-diciembre) y 2024 (enero-marzo), se realizará un plan de trabajo
para desarrollar diversas actividades para fortalecer la salud mental de los estudiantes y para
el logro de los objetivos que se detallan a continuación:

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES UNIT OF EXECUTION IN MONTHS

MEASURE
A M J J A S O N D J F M

Identify which public Review of bibliography in the Document X X

mental health policies university repository or library
can be implemented to
decrease the number Planning and programming of Document X
of suicides among high information.
school students in Design and elaboration of the Document X X
Aichi Prefecture. sample frame

Preparation of questionnaires to Document/ X

know the mental health status of Plan of
high school students. activities

Promote ongoing Implementation of the pilot test Plan of X

training of staff in activities
Japanese schools and
health centres to Training of survey volunteers and Plan of X
prevent suicide among participants activities
high school students in Conduct of surveys and interviews Plan of X X
Aichi Prefecture activities

Stimulate and Organization of suicide prevention Document/ X

encourage the workshops Plan of
development of soft activities
skills to prevent
suicide risk in high Implement programs to increase Document X
school students of the participation of teachers and
Aichi Prefecture students in suicide prevention

Promote and strengthen students' Document/ X

mental health by encouraging Plan of
them to actively participate in activities
various artistic, cultural, research
and creative activities

Create a mental health Data processing Report X

plan in schools and
health institutions to Indicator generation Report X
reduce the risk of
Analysis of quantitative data Report X
suicide among high
school students in Development of Mental Health Document/Plan X
Aichi Prefecture. Plan of activities

Monitoring and follow-up of the Report X

activities of students

7.4. Population and sample

The population to be considered is a representative sample of high school students from
Aichi Prefecture who were absent from school. This sample of the number of students will
be taken from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of
Japan.(Nippon.com, 2019)
The second source is that published by the National Police Agency (NPA) and the Ministry
of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. (Agency, 2020) (Ministry of Health, 2020)

7.5. Techniques and instruments

7.5.1. Interview
The interview is the technique with which the researcher obtains information in an oral and
personalized way.(Corbetta, 2003) .
This technique will also help us to generate up-to-date statistical information to develop
indicators to facilitate the monitoring of possible suicide cases.
Within two months (November and December), a population of 200 high school students
can be interviewed. The type of interview will be face-to-face with the use of masks. These
persons will be selected on the basis of data provided by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and why we select this target audience
is because the number of suicides in high school students increased in 2018 by 42%
compared to 2017.
 7.5.2. Poll
It consists of a set of questions that are prepared for the purpose of obtaining information
from people.(Corbetta, 2003) The researcher intends to measure the attitudes of the
interviewees through the survey. In this case the survey will help us to know the perception
of high school students regarding the quality of mental health care in Japanese schools.
To conduct the surveys, we will use printed sheets about mental health care in schools.
Another option is virtual surveys such as the free SurveyMonkey app.

7.5.3. Bibliographical techniques

It consists of the review of existing bibliographic material with respect to the topics to be
studied (public policies and suicide prevention).(Corbetta, 2003) This technique will be
carried out through the consultation of information sources, which can be found in
university libraries and repositories. It will help us to collect important data through theses,
papers, publications and books, which will help us to test the hypotheses of the research
plan.

7.6. Limitations
This study also has some limitations. First, the information to be obtained is superficial,
also lack sincerity due to privacy protection and difficulty in understanding and interpreting
the questions. Second, the Japanese language; this limitation can be covered by
communicating in English with students and teachers to request annual statistical
information. Third, ethical limitations, although suicide is a social phenomenon with which
people live together in Japan, it is important to inform the population that it is a serious
health problem, social and economic conditions, which is why it is necessary to make
adequate efforts to prevent them.

8. Significance of this research

● This research plan makes an important contribution because it informs, prevents

and provides alternatives to prevent suicide among students at Aichi Prefecture
High School in Japan, which has been the most vulnerable young population in
recent years. Suicide in Japan is a serious public health problem that can affect
any country, with more than 800,000 people dying by suicide each year worldwide.
(World Health Organization, 2014) For this reason, the research plan emphasizes
prevention as an alternative solution.

● This research is relevant because it proposes a mental health plan in schools,

which is important to know the mental health status of students and from these
teachers and principals receive training on mental health care to prevent suicide
among students in Aichi prefecture.
 ● This study is important because it will reveal the main motivators for suicide among
high school students in Aichi Prefecture and implement initiatives, programs,
workshops, talks that strengthen the mental health of Japanese youth (15-18
years) who are absent from school in Aichi Prefecture.

9. References

● Agency, N. P. (2020). Suicide Statistics as of October 2020. [Internet].

https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/safetylife/jisatsu.html

● Araya Leiva, K. (2021). Nihon no jisatsu: Suicide representations in post 80’s

Japanese pop culture. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.51188/rrts.num24.445

● Balingit, A. (2021). Cohort studies: What they are, examples, and types. Medical

News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/281703#pros-and-cons

● Corbetta, P. (2003). Metodología y técnicas de investigación social (McGraw-Hill

Interamericana de España (ed.)).

● Izquierdo, R. (2020). Japón tiene un problema con los suicidios. Diario AS.

https://as.com/diarioas/2020/12/04/actualidad/1607061268_442145.html

● Matsubayashi, T., Ueda, M., & Yoshikawa, K. (2016). School and seasonality in

youth suicide: Evidence from Japan. JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND

COMMUNITY HEALTH, 70, 1122–1127. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2016-207583

● McCombes, S. (2019). Descriptive Research Design | Definition, Methods &

Examples. https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/descriptive-research/

● Ministry of Health. (2020). Labour and Welfare. Suicide Statistics: Suicide Statistics

by Region. [Internet].
 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000140901.html

● Miranda, R., & L.Jeglic, E. (2021). Handbook of youth suicide prevention :

integrating research into practice (Springer). Cham.

https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BC12301352

● Nippon.com. (2019). El número de suicidios entre niños y adolescentes en Japón

alcanzó un máximo histórico en 2018.

https://www.nippon.com/es/japan-data/h00572/

● Okamura, K., Ikeshita, K., Kimoto, S., Makinodan, M., & Kishimoto, T. (2021).

Suicide prevention in Japan: Government and community measures, and high-risk

interventions. Asia Pac Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/appy.12471.

● World Health Organization. (2014). Preventing Suicide.

https://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/world_report_2014/en/